A community group in Furness is facing an uncertain future after their efforts to recruit new members fell flat.

The Rotary Club of Furness hosted two public meetings at Dunelm Mill’s Pausa Café in Barrow but no potential new volunteers turned up.

Whilst the group admitted that their attempts had turned out to be a 'waste of time and money', club President Brian Boyd argued that it also proved they are trying different ways to increase membership

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He commented: "Although this was not a huge success, it does show we are willing to try different approaches to help share the Rotary message and broaden the appeal of Rotary."

In the meeting, the club was trying to emulate efforts seen elsewhere in the country, as Club Secretary Graham Postlethwaite explained.

"We tried to emulate the Rotary Club of Darwen who arranged for their president to be in a local café and invited people to join her for a coffee.

"They supplemented that with an event at their local Wetherspoons and managed to recruit two new members."

Having noticed the cafe in Dunelm was available for use for community meetings, that was chosen as the perfect starting point for the club.

"So we turned up on two consecutive Tuesdays and had a nil response," Mr Postlethwaite said.

"The cost was £20 for hire and £24 for some booklets and two A3 posters - a bit of a disaster, but we must not let that put us off."

The need for new members has grown to be a pressing problem for the group following recent departures.

"Having lost five club members, three being firm stalwarts, we do need to get our skates on and recruit."

"Perhaps we try again with the café idea, maybe the Forum would be a better location - and have a low key display with only a couple of members actually having a coffee."

Their attention is now turning towards the younger generation as they try to secure the club's future.

Mr Postlethwaite proposed: "Maybe we should look at younger people - normally we would like to interest them in Rotaract, but why not our club?"